Lead Designer

Frontier; Cambridge; Hybrid; GBP 85,000 - 110,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Relocation support

Annual bonus

Private healthcare

Cycle to Work

Life assurance

Flexitime working hours

Job summary

Frontier in Cambridge is seeking a Lead Game Designer to steer CMS project design, guiding feature development and balancing systems. You will mentor designers, drive the design vision with the Game Director, and coordinate with production to prioritize work and manage risks.

You will lead a multidisciplinary team, champion playtesting, QA feedback, and documentation, while shaping long-term career growth for your designers in a creative, studio-driven environment.

Qualifications

• Experience leading design for CMS titles.
• Proven line management and mentorship skills.
• Strong campaign and systems design experience.
• Excellent presentation and stakeholder communication.

Responsibilities

• Lead the design team on an entire project and own design for major feature areas.
• Provide line management, performance reviews and mentoring.
• Work with the Game Director to deliver the game's vision.
• Manage project risks and blockers, and drive quality via playtests and QA feedback.
• Design features, create in-game content and balance systems.
• Collaborate with other disciplines to align development.
• Manage design documentation and cross-team communication.
• Coordinate with Production for feature prioritisation and scheduling.

Skills

CMS games

Line management

Mentorship

Player psychology

Design leadership

Campaign design

Job description

Frontier is an independent video game developer and publisher, crafting immersive gaming experiences with fun gameplay and unparalleled artistic quality. Renowned for its iconic creative management simulation games, Frontier captivates players worldwide with immersive and authentic game worlds. The modern studio is located in the vibrant technology hub of Cambridge (UK). The talented team at Frontier are dedicated to nurturing our existing portfolio and delivering our exciting future roadmap.*This role is offered on a full in-studio basis or a hybrid basis (minimum 3 days per week in the studio). We can provide a comprehensive relocation support package as part of any offer, should you need to relocate.*### WHAT’S THE ROLE?We are looking for a Lead Game Designer to join our Design team in a key leadership role, working on our portfolio of Creative Management Simulation (CMS) titles. In this role, you will be responsible for driving the game vision and translating it into compelling, high-quality game experiences.Working as both the lead designer on a project, and supporting project leadership, you will influence key design decisions and provide line management and mentorship to members of the Design Team, helping to support their performance, career progression and long-term team development.#### WHAT YOU'LL BE DOING+ Leading the Design Team on an entire project and taking ownership of design for major feature areas.+ Providing line management to designers, including performance management, career development and mentoring.+ Working with the Game Director ensuring delivery on the game’s vision.+ Managing project risks and identifying blockers and inefficiencies.+ Driving quality using playtests, player feedback, QA reporting, and your own insights.+ Designing game features, creating in-game content and balancing game systems.+ Collaborating closely with other development disciplines to build understanding and gain alignment throughout development.+ Management of game design documentation & communication across the team.+ Working with Production to ensure effective feature prioritisation and work scheduling.#### WHAT YOU'LL BRING+ Game Design experience in a senior, lead or principal design role.+ Strong experience in leading, managing and developing designers through effective line management and mentorship.+ Strong awareness and passion for CMS games.+ Proven experience in campaign design, systems design and delivering major game features.+ Deep understanding of player psychology.+ Excellent presentation skills, and experience in presenting your ideas to stakeholders both within and outside the project.+ Knowledge of a variety of game design theories and methods.+ Experience collaborating across multi-disciplinary teams#### BONUS IF YOU HAVE+ Experience working on management games.+ Knowledge of UX/UI design principles.+ Experience of supporting and growing live games.### WHAT WE CAN OFFER YOUYou will work with talented and passionate people to support, develop or publish our sophisticated and enduring games, in a creative, collaborative and inclusive environment. We love what we do, and we work hard to provide outstanding experiences for our players. Wellbeing is a big focus at Frontier, and we are continually evolving how we can support our people. We encourage a healthy work/life balance and provide a range of wellbeing activities, initiatives and sessions to support both mental and physical health. We offer a competitive salary and benefits package, which includes a success-based annual bonus, share option schemes, life assurance, private family healthcare, flexitime working hours, enhanced maternity/paternity leave, in-house subsidised catering, support with relocation, a Cycle to Work scheme, free bike servicing, and social activities and events. We strive to create an environment where everyone can fully demonstrate their capability and potential. If you therefore need any reasonable adjustments to support you during the recruitment process, please speak to your Talent Acquisition representative. For queries, please email: [e-mail]